Tag Archives: Janna Pelle Musician

I return to my interview session with Janna Pelle, which took place on the first Thursday of November, at the Bosie Tea Parlor in the West Village. As Janna received her order of Mau Feng tea, I asked her about the challenges and rewards she experiences in her career as a musician. She responds:

“Other than making money, I think the challenge is to be able to stay true to yourself. When you decide you want to do music professionally, you don’t know exactly what that would mean for you, or what you like about music. Will it give you the same sense of fulfillment that you would get in a job? Are you up for it? Do you want to do music your whole life? You need to enter with a very open mind. If you don’t do a certain thing, realize it does not mean you are selling yourself short, or failing. It means you are learning how to make yourself happy, how to support yourself, and balance all of these different things going on around music – even your lifestyle or sleep schedule. That’s the challenge, accepting what being a musician means to you.”

“It’s like taking care of a baby,” I commented.

“It is a baby!” Janna positively exclaims. “It’s like your creative brain child. And as a musician, you are always in a state of flux. I’ve been playing keyboards for other bands, making posters for them, and more. It goes back to the feeling like I am providing a service to people. That’s going to make me happy. I would prefer to do something that makes me passionate.

“I don’t know what type of audience I will reach at any time, but I know that when I perform for Beatles Fest, my own shows or a cover set, I can feel good about myself. I completed work for somebody, they appreciate the fact that I am playing their music, and that’s my job.”

The subject of audience reminded me of Janna’s plan for Key Change, the album which received the dedicated concert from earlier this week. The concept for this record involves following the chronological history of the keyboard’s evolution from harpsichord to synthesizer. Further the music in this record mixes classical with pop, and offers an ode to the versatility of the piano and all the changes it underwent throughout history to make it better.

“The evolution is really interesting,” begins Janna. “There is no other keyboard instrument like the modern piano. You can do everything with it; play delicately, legato, staccato, very high, very low, loud, or soft.

“The earlier keyboard instruments were all imperfect in some way. The clavichord was perceived as a passive instrument. Then, the harpsichord was built for really small rooms – it was the elitist’s instrument present at dinner parties for all the kings, queens and important politicians. Organs, which actually came before these instruments, were placed in churches with high ceilings and started to be adapted for concerts. Organs were, however, huge and importable. People couldn’t do anything with them, including playing very short notes as the sounds linger in the pipes for a long time. The modern day piano blends portability, mobility, long notes, short notes, and all the qualities of the earlier keyboards together. You can play harpsichord music on the piano, and anything.

“Part of the reason I love the piano is so much is because it is a solo instrument. When I came to New York, I said to myself, I don’t have all of these other instruments [with me]. With the piano, I am able to write for myself, sing and accompany myself. I also like how it is a percussion instrument. I love playing heavily on the keys and not worrying about anything really. It is not hard to produce a note, compared to the violin and other instruments, like woodwinds.”

As Janna worked on the album, she had the opportunity to work with a musician from Juilliard on one of her songs. This made her think about marketing to an audience of classical musicians, conservatory musicians, or dormant musicians. Janna explains:

“I am not sure what your reason for being dormant is,” Janna says, “but the people I know who say they’re a dormant musician claim it’s because of time consumption. I think many of these dormant musicians have not listened to anything other than the pieces they played growing up. I think they will find this album interesting and fresh. And there are a lot of little tasteful musical moments that music nerds will be able to appreciate.”

One song from Key Change my audience in New York City will definitely appreciate is “City Life,” in which Janna sings … So, this is city life/ for better for worse/ even on a shitty day/ I still live in the greatest place on Earth. I am sure anybody who has taken on the city at one point in their lives will relate to some of the lyrics in this song. If you live in New York, enough said.

I wondered about the moment Janna had – and I ask this of all my musical subjects – when she decided to become a musician. She answers:

“That moment is still evolving. When I graduated, I wanted to try being a musician though I didn’t know what that meant. I just knew that for a fact from the time I left school, moved back to Miami (the singer’s home town) for two months, and then came here. I could have gone right into advertising, there is an advertising school in New York. I thought about going to Spain for a little while to teach English. I earned a minor in ESL, and linguistics, and that always interested me. Yet, I felt I could do that at any age. It was mainly just feeling like it was my time to do this. I’m as young as I am ever going to be today, so it’s time to do it.”

Wherever Janna goes with her career and however long she decides to stay in music is up to her, and her future looks bright. Aside from her immediate confidence, charm and her passion for songwriting and performing, Janna has support from many different communities – her peers, patients and their families battling a serious illness, the artists who join her during a performance, the lovers of music she wins over with her songs, and the business partners who help her along the way.

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